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Who will light Olympic Flame?

Liu Xiang (劉翔), Yao Ming (姚明) and Xu Haifeng (許海峰) appear out of contention along with Yang Liwei (楊利偉), so who else could be the final torch bearer when the Beijing Olympics open tomorrow?

Olympic tea leaf reading is in full swing on the person to light the Olympic Flame.

The honor is immense, as the lighting with the flame from ancient Olympia is the most symbolic act at any Olympics since its introduction for the 1936 Games in Berlin.

The world was deeply moved when boxing legend Muhammad Ali lit the cauldron 1996 in Atlanta, Australian reconciliation took a big step forward when 400m runner Cathy Freeman was picked at Sydney 2000 and patriotic shivers went through the US when the 1980 ice hockey team lit the flame in 2002 in Salt Lake City.

Distance runners Paavo Nurmi (1952) and Ron Clarke (1956) have also done the famous job along with soccer player Michel Platini (1992).

But not all final torch bearers have been athletes.

The grandson of polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen, Eigil Nansen, lit the cauldron at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo. And 1994 in Lillehammer it was Norwegian crown prince Haakon, whose father and grandfather were both Olympic athletes.

For the 1964 Games in Tokyo Yoshinori Sakai was chosen, not so much as a track and field athlete, but rather because he was born on the day the atomic bomb exploded over his native Hiroshima.

Chinese selectors will be going through a thorough process to find the right person, but will likely at least not have to sweat as much as Greek organizers four years ago in Athens.

Sprinter Kostas Kenteris was never officially confirmed as the man who had been given the honor, but was strongly favored to do so until he disgraced himself with a missed drug test and an allegedly faked motorcycle accident on the eve of the opening ceremony. Windsurfer Nikolaos Kaklamanakis lit the flame.

Now it’s time for the Chinese to make the most of the best-kept secret at any Olympics.

The Athens 110m hurdles gold medalist Liu and Houston Rockets NBA basketball star Yao were the top favorites among Chinese athletes, along with Xu, a shooter who won China’s first ever Olympic gold in 1984.

But they have already carried the torch, which according to tradition counts them out. The same applies to Yang, China’s first astronaut.

Yao told the Xinhua news agency after his run yesterday that he never really had big hopes of being the last one.

“I believe this honor belongs to the older generation of Chinese athletes who have contributed to the development of our sport,” Yao said.

That would make Li Ning (李寧) a prime candidate who would also represent the new China. Li, 45, won three gold medals, two silver and one bronze in gymnastics in 1984, and nowadays is a successful businessman with his own sports goods company.

Finding the right person from a population of 1.3 billion appears like looking for the needle in a haystack. So maybe 20-year-old Cheng Fei (程菲), the popular five-time gymnastics world champion?
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